Unemployment has risen from 8.5 percent to 10.4 percent in a year.
The number of long-term unemployed amounted to 173,000 and the employment rate was 67.1 percent, compared to 67.6 percent in January last year.
Louise Stener, statistician at SCB, believes that one should interpret the figures with some caution.
Now it's the first measurement this year that shows this. To say that something is a lasting change, we often want to see that it's several months that are the basis, she says.
Stener emphasizes that unemployment in January last year was relatively low, which affects. Moreover, SCB's survey is a sample survey. The job-seeking individuals who are part of the panel are in the age range 15-74 years.
But even the Employment Service's figures show rising unemployment.
The figures are based on registered job seekers in the age range 16-65 years. According to the Employment Service, nearly 381,000 people were unemployed at the end of January this year, which corresponds to a total of 7.2 percent. It is the highest level in three years.
We still see a brightening ahead and our assessment is that unemployment will stop increasing during the spring and begin to decrease during the autumn, said the Employment Service's analysis director Eva Samakovlis when the figures were presented last week.
